COMMENCEMENT 2012 SPEAKER

Chaplain (Col.) (Ret.)
Janet Yarlott Horton

Endorser, Christian Science Military Chaplains

Janet Horton is a native of Crystal, Michigan, and spent her formative years in Iowa. She entered the U.S. Army in June 1976 and served for 28 years as a Christian Science Chaplain. She was the first woman in the Army Chaplain Corps to be assigned as a Division or Corps-level Supervisory Chaplain and the first woman to attain the grade of Colonel in the Army Chaplain Corps.

Having served two tours at the Pentagon, Horton prayed with casualties in the Pentagon Courtyard on 9-11. She supervised religious support for Task Forces in Bosnia, Albania, and Kosovo. She was the Chief of Leadership Training in the Combined Arms Department for the Finance and Adjutant General Schools at the Soldier Support Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. She has taught leadership courses at all levels of the military including the NATO Chaplains Conference for the U.S. Air Force Chief of Chaplains. After training with the New Jersey State Police Academy and serving as an Army Correctional Facility Chaplain, her lesson plans on Personal Safety and Rape Prevention were adopted by the Armed Forces Training Board. She currently provides Christian Science services at the Marion County Correctional Facility.

Horton’s education includes a Masters of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology in Theology, and on September 22, 2011, she was selected as a Distinguished Alumni. She also earned a Masters of Arts Degree in Religious Studies from Stanford University in Ethics and was the first woman chaplain to attend the Army War College. From her studies of Divine Command Morality and the Abraham Tradition, she briefs on the extremist mindset in the military intelligence community and the inter-agencies such as Homeland Defense, the U.S. Marshall’s Office, and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

While serving at the Department of Defense level she advised the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness on Muslim issues following the 9-11 attack on the Pentagon. She frequently advised Army Operations Group and planning cells and the Air Force Operations Group on the terrorist mindset. One of her frequently cited sources was The Christian Science Monitor.

Horton has applied the teachings of Christian Science to situations as varied as pioneering during the early years when women were integrated into the regular Army, the military chaplaincies, and in physically demanding field and deployment settings of the Army.